*** THIS DAY IN WEATHER HISTORY *** #cyclonetracy #vscweather Whilst we settle down for the night, and begin to feel those Christmas Day jitters, we remember what were thankful for. And for many people 40 years ago, being thankful was all they had. On the 24th December, 1974, Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy made a direct hit on Darwin the night of Christmas Eve, ruining the festive season for everyone in the city. Whether it was the idea of Christmas that made everyone ignorant to the cyclone, or the fact that Cyclone Selma weeks prior gave them false hope it would never happen in Darwin, Tracy is now remembered as most compact cyclone or equivalent-strength hurricane on record in the Australian basin, with gale-force winds extending only 48 kilometres (30 mi) from the centre. The storm moved southwards and affected the city with Category 4 winds on the Australian cyclone intensity scale, while there is evidence to suggest that it had reached Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale when it made landfall. Tracy killed over 60 people, caused A$837 million in damage (1974 dollars), or approximately A$4.45 billion (2014 dollars). It destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwins buildings, including 80 percent of houses. Until systems like Larry (2006) and Yasi (2011), Tracy was known as the strongest to make direct landfall on an Australian city. Tracy blew winds of up to 205km/h, and gusts up to 240km/h. Meteorologists have the belief that such measurements are estimate, as the weather station is said to have broke during the landfall, with many saying gusts couldve reached up to 300km/h during the peak of the storm. And 40 years old, the city has built itself back up bigger and stronger than ever, and minus the effect to human life, us weather fanatics marvel at the meteorological beauty that was Cyclone Tracy. Emily
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 09:34:10 +0000
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